The Ming Dynasty did not revolutionize

Chapter 152: End of the Battle of Oman
The Ming Dynasty occupied Zanzibar and Mombasa in Africa, and Omani Sultan Hamid also received the news one after another.

Hamed was not surprised or surprised.

After the Ming Dynasty turned its attention overseas, it was natural for it to compete for maritime hegemony in the Indian Ocean.

The best opportunity came after my grandfather passed away.

Oman controls the shipping routes in the northwest Indian Ocean, especially the route from India to the Red Sea.

This was a key link in the old trade route between the East and the West.

Goods from the East entered the Red Sea, were briefly resold on land at the Isthmus of Suez, and then could be sold in the Mediterranean.

From the Eastern Roman Empire to the Arabs to the Ottomans, everyone was doing this business.

At most, they would consider monopolizing this route, but would never be so willful as to completely block it.

The Portuguese and Spanish opened up new routes not because the old routes were blocked, but because they just wanted to share the benefits of maritime trade.

After the opening of the new route, Portugal established colonies in East Africa and Asia and then turned its attention to blocking the old route.

The Portuguese were severely beaten by Oman in the northeast and had to give up obstructing the northeastern Indian Ocean route.

Now the Ming Dynasty obviously wants to control most of this route.

With a somewhat sad and angry mood, Hamid gave up the idea of ​​going south to retake the African colonies and concentrated on preparing for war in Oman.

Hamid knew that Oman had a high probability of not being able to defeat the Ming Dynasty as the size gap between the two sides was too great.

The final result was most likely surrender and become a vassal of the Ming Dynasty.

But you still have to fight with all your strength. Only by demonstrating your strength on the battlefield can you get basic respect after surrendering.

If you surrender without reason, you may be directly taken as a slave.

On August 18, the 39th year of Xianning, outside the Gulf of Oman outside the entrance of the Persian Gulf, in the waters east of the Arabian Peninsula.

The combined fleets of the Ming Right Army Military Governor's Office, the Ming Front Army Military Governor's Office, the Ming Wu Kingdom, and the Ming Min Kingdom Navy broke into the Gulf of Oman with a large number of armed merchant ships.

The target was Muscat, the new capital of Oman chosen by Hamed.

The Omani navy had already made preparations. After the reconnaissance ship discovered the Ming fleet, the main fleet immediately came out in full force to fight against the Ming fleet.

The main fleets of both sides encountered each other off the coast of Muscat.

The Ming fleet demanded that the Omani fleet surrender, but the Omani commander decisively refused.

A naval battle that changed an era then began.

The commander of the Ming Dynasty did not know the best way to use the new warships, and he instinctively used traditional combat methods, trying to enter the battlefield from an angle that was more advantageous to him.

The distance between the two fleets was rapidly shortened, and they soon found out the situation of each other's fleets.

The Omani fleet had more than sixty battleships and hundreds of secondary frigates, and the total number of warships was basically the same as that of the Ming Dynasty.

However, the Omani fleet was composed entirely of ordinary traditional sailing ships, while half of the Ming fleet was steam sailing ships.

Moreover, the flagship of the Ming fleet was an extremely large warship.

When the commander of the Omani fleet heard the report from the lookout that a ship larger than the 3,000-ton battleship had been spotted, he immediately shouted that it was impossible:
“The strength of wood is limited, and it is meaningless to build a ship over 3,000 tons.

"A larger circle would take at least five or six thousand tons, and it would have to be solid when it's built!"

Due to the limitations of the strength of the wood itself, the larger the size of a pure wooden warship, the larger proportion of wood is needed to maintain the shape of the ship.

The more space is used to build and maintain the ship, the smaller the proportion used to carry cargo.

The smaller the ratio of load capacity to ship weight.

Considering key factors such as comprehensive combat capability, actual construction cost, and hull strength, the optimal tonnage of a wooden main force is about 1,500 tons.

In fact, warships over 2,000 tons are already relatively uneconomical, and warships over 3,000 tons are actually only symbolic.

The combat capability will not be much stronger than that of a 1,500-ton battleship, but the construction cost will increase significantly.

So the general of Oman felt that it was impossible for the Ming Dynasty to have a 6,000-ton warship.

His judgment was indeed correct, but the new warships of the Ming Dynasty used steel keels and frames, which directly broke away from the limitations of wood.

This directly increased the tonnage of warships by a large amount.

It was not until the two fleets were getting closer that the general of Oman saw the Ming fleet through a telescope and saw a large battleship that was larger than the other battleships:
“Oh my god, this is impossible, how did they make it?

“And there was smoke coming out of the ship, but there were no paddle wheels on either side of the hull?
"Why use a steam engine if you don't need a paddle wheel?"

General Aman had long heard of the Ming Dynasty's steam engines and steam-powered ships, and knew that such warships played a vital role.

Today I was surprised to see a warship with a chimney but no paddle wheels.

In fact, this ship is the Australia, which has just been put into service and is driven by a steam engine and a propeller.

The propeller is completely submerged in water, so of course it cannot be seen from the outside.

The smaller the tonnage of the ship and the lower the power of the engine, the smaller the efficiency loss of the paddle wheel compared to the propeller, and the greater the low-cost advantage of the paddle wheel.

The larger the tonnage of the ship and the more powerful the engine, the more obvious the efficiency loss of the paddle wheel.

There is even a limit where power can be increased without increasing speed.

Warships pursue higher speeds and require more powerful engines, and are not actually very sensitive to cost.

So in the original history, in the 1860s, when the power of steam engines reached thousands of horsepower, propellers were basically universally used on warships.

But even a hundred years later, paddle steamers were still everywhere.

Even in the 21st century, propellers have become popular in large commercial and cargo ships, but various small boats used for sightseeing and entertainment are still driven by paddle wheels.

Because these boats are not power sensitive, and the cost advantage of paddle wheels is too great.

The manufacturing of the paddle wheel is simple and crude. It does not require a particularly long transmission shaft, nor does it need to be immersed in water as a whole, and there is no need to consider dynamic sealing issues.

Although Zhu Jianxuan was a time traveler, he was the first to use paddle wheel drive when the steam engine was put on board.

Now the Ming Dynasty’s steam engine has reached a critical point.

It is difficult to drive a 6,000-ton battleship directly with paddle wheels. Even if it is forced to use paddle wheels, the efficiency will be very poor.

So after sufficient calculations and verifications, propellers were put into use on the newly designed warships.

The Omani general had just finished speaking in surprise when he saw several dazzling flames spurting out from the side of the Ming ship.

The general was stunned again:

"God bless you, what happened? Did the Ming ship explode?"

As the general finished his gloating words, an extremely violent explosion occurred in front of the ship he was on. It should be another adjacent warship.

The general was startled and immediately moved the telescope to look.

It was discovered that the large battleship, which weighed more than a thousand tons, had two huge holes torn in the front middle part, and almost one-third of the hull was blown to pieces.

The entire ship was shaking and was about to break into two pieces.

But at this moment, a ball of fire suddenly burst out from inside the hull, and the entire battleship was instantly torn into several pieces.

Oman's generals had no idea what was happening.

Can't imagine what happened.

But the Ming warships soon gave him a new demonstration.

Under his direct supervision, another warship was hit by the Ming warship's artillery shells.

He watched with his own eyes as something crashed into the hull of the ship, and then a violent explosion occurred there.

The entire front half of the ship looked like a straw house that was blown away by the strong wind.

Then immediately there was a new explosion.

Another battleship was blown to pieces.

"Is this... a shrapnel bomb? Did the explosion trigger a gunpowder explosion?"

"But that's impossible. Shrapnel isn't that powerful."

"The key point is that the distance is at least two kilometers! How can the Ming artillery shells hit the target?"

Oman's generals could not accept reality.

But reality always plays out ruthlessly and indifferently.

The combat range of traditional sailing warships is usually within one kilometer.

Firing cannons from a kilometer away is basically just for fun.

However, the Wu State’s new breech-loading rifled cannon had an effective range of three kilometers, and the hit rate within two kilometers was very high.

The ironclad ship Australia, with four Nordic-type steel-structured warships, relied on their higher speed and longer-range artillery to call upon the Omani warships on the battlefield one by one.

Now, using explosive bombs charged with picric acid, a single shot could cripple a wooden battleship, directly blowing off a large piece of the battleship. If you were lucky, you might even be able to blow the entire battleship in two.

If the bombardment continues, the entire battleship can be blown into pieces, but most of the time there is no need to do so.

Just fire two or three shots at a ship.

Because these warships were filled with a large amount of black gunpowder, they were like huge shrapnel shells.

Of course, it is difficult to detonate using traditional solid bullets.

However, the explosion of the picric acid shells can cause large-scale tearing of the overall structure of the battleship, and there is a high probability that it will cause the battleship's own ammunition depot to explode.

So the Omani fleet began to turn into fireworks one after another before entering normal combat distance.

Balls of fire appeared and disappeared on the sea.

Oman's generals finally slowly realized that the enemy had shrapnel with extremely exaggerated range, power, and hit rate.

The battle has turned into a one-sided massacre.

There was no point in continuing to hold on.

So after losing more than a dozen warships, General Oman instinctively ordered the fleet to retreat.

But the order to retreat was now meaningless.

Half of the Ming fleet were steam-powered sailing ships, giving the Ming Dynasty an overall advantage in fleet speed.

The new propeller warships of the Australia and Northern River types are capable of running at a speed of 25 kilometers per hour at any time.

Ordinary Omani sailboats cannot escape even if they catch full wind.

The five new ships, including the Australia, could destroy an enemy warship by just chasing it and firing two or three times, thanks to their powerful new artillery.

The Omani fleet was soon completely disrupted.

Many captains found that they were unable to resist and had no chance to escape, so they thought of hoisting the white flag and surrendering.

The entire battle lasted less than three hours.

A total of more than sixty Omani warships were directly smashed into pieces, floating on the surface of the Gulf of Oman.

They were the unlucky ones who didn't even have time to surrender.

In the end, there were only about a hundred warships of various sizes left. They sent out surrender signals fast enough and were fortunately correctly recognized by the Ming fleet.

The armed merchant ships following the Ming fleet entered the battlefield, and the Japanese troops that came with the ships took over these warships one by one.

Then the entire fleet sailed towards the port of Muscat.

Sultan Ahmed in the port of Muscat had no idea how the battle on the sea was progressing because no warships had returned to report.

Until the Ming fleet was discovered approaching the port, Hamid subconsciously judged that the naval battle was lost and the fleet might have fled to another place.

He couldn't imagine now that the entire fleet had been wiped out and there was no chance of escape.

Hamed had no time to think about these things. He could only concentrate on commanding the defense line organized outside the port, preparing to achieve at least some results on land.

The Ming fleet's combat plan was the same as the attack on Zanzibar and Mombasa.

The fleet provided cover from bombardment on the coast, forcing the enemy soldiers to stay away from the coast and allowing their own infantry to land in small boats.

This time, the Wu State Rifle Division and the Japanese Army Corps landed at the same time, and after landing, they quickly advanced inland.

Omani Sultan Hamid prepared his main infantry to defend outside the city and made preparations in advance outside the artillery range of the Ming warships.

When the Ming Army left the coverage of the ship-borne artillery, he commanded his own infantry to meet them.

The Omani army commander used typical line infantry tactics.

Let the infantry form a horizontal line and move forward, constantly shortening the distance between the two sides until they start shooting within a hundred meters.

Whichever side collapses first will win.

The Wu army commanders had no experience in using pure rifled muskets, and for the time being they only made slight modifications to the existing line infantry tactics.

Let the riflemen spread out their lines and concentrate them in the middle and back of the line to attack the enemy's main force.

Let the musketeers spread out on both sides of the enemy and move them as far forward as possible, preparing to launch a charge and reap the rewards after the enemy's main force is defeated.

The infantry on both sides carried their guns and walked forward with their heads held high, and the distance gradually shortened to three hundred meters.

Omani Sultan Hamad himself was on a high ground not far from the battlefield, watching the situation on the battlefield through a telescope.

Since the range and accuracy of a smoothbore musket are very limited, in order to maximize the lethality, the enemy needs to be as close as possible before shooting.

Qualified line infantry should be able to at least put the enemy within a hundred meters of themselves before starting to shoot.

More elite infantrymen may wait until the enemy is within fifty meters before opening fire.

The historical limit is twenty meters.

If you fire at a distance of more than 300 meters, it is almost impossible to achieve any visible results.

The troops that would open fire from 300 meters away can be said to be a real mob.

They had no morale at all and were ready to run away immediately after firing randomly.

Omani officers and soldiers under Hamid would not think that the Ming regular army was a mob, otherwise it would have been impossible to occupy the Omani colony in Africa.

But now these Ming Dynasty infantrymen suddenly opened fire from three hundred meters away.

Hamid tightly gripped the telescope, looking at the smoke of burning black gunpowder bursting out from the Ming army line, and he was a little dazed.

For a moment, there was a feeling of surprise in my heart.

If this Ming army was just a bunch of miscellaneous soldiers who could only shoot indiscriminately, we would only need one charge to defeat them.

Omani soldiers and officers on the battlefield had similar thoughts, and many of them subconsciously thought they were going to win.

But this surprise only lasted for a moment.

The mood of everyone including Hamed immediately became one of shock.

As the Ming army was enveloped in gunpowder smoke, the Omani infantry immediately suffered large-scale casualties.

Amid the continuous screams of astonishment and confusion, the Omani infantry, who had been marching forward with their heads held high, fell down in a flash.

It was as if he had been hit by a rifle at a distance of several dozen meters.

"Impossible, the enemy is clearly hundreds of meters away, shooting like this won't do any good—"

Hamed and many of his officers suspected that they had seen it wrong.

But what was even more unacceptable to them was yet to come.

The Omani army seemed to be under fire not from a single round of enemy fire, but from continuous fire from countless troops.

Hamid turned to look at the Ming army again and found that there were waves of smoke around their front-row infantry, as if they were shooting continuously.

They don't seem to need to reload at all, and it seems that they can keep firing bullets just by pulling the trigger continuously.

The Omani army opposite them fell like wheat being cut.

The Omani soldiers continued to advance with great difficulty, and when they were more than 150 meters away from the Ming line, they had lost more than half of their men.

The remaining soldiers finally couldn't hold on any longer and suddenly fled the battlefield like crazy.

The officers also ran away.

They formed a dense line of troops and marched straight towards the position of the breech-loading riflemen. This was the real line-up execution.

There was no suspense about the outcome.

When the Ming officers saw the enemy collapse, they immediately blew the bugle to charge.

Upon receiving the order, the Japanese legions on both sides of the Ming Dynasty Rifle Division immediately launched the final charge with roars.

The Rifle Division continued to stay in the rear to hold the line while sniping at the ignored enemies.

Oman's army was soon defeated.

The Ming Dynasty Japanese army advanced rapidly and directly occupied the city of Muscat.

Having achieved no results, Ahmed chose to surrender in extreme despair.

After the Ming army took control of Muscat, it divided the rifle division into several parts and led the Japanese army to attack from all sides.

With the huge advantage of breech-loading riflemen, the Ming army occupied the entire Omani mainland before the summer of the 40th year of Xianning.

Including Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar from Zhu Jianxuan’s previous life, and a piece of land in the Persian coastal area across the Gulf.

At the same time, it attacked westward along the coastline of the Arabian Peninsula and occupied several small countries within the scope of Yemen in the previous life.

At this point, the entire Oman campaign was basically over, and the route to the Red Sea was completely opened.

(End of this chapter)